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Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

By Bill Vidonic

Saturday, June 28, 2014, 3:35 p.m.

Planning for the worst helped Cranberry deal with last week's closure of one of its main arteries, the township's manager said.

“Everybody has to work together in a crisis,” Jerry Andree said.

Planning guidance from the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission's Transportation Traffic Incident Management team, or TIM, helped the township develop a blueprint for a response to a major emergency, Public Safety Director Jeff Schueler said.

“It created a framework that brought people together,” Andree said of the response to the closure of Route 228 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after high winds sent utility and light poles crashing onto the highway.

Andree said that in the early hours, some utility companies didn't seem to grasp the magnitude of the problem. It happened after rush hour. Traffic had largely dissipated for the evening.

But with a road that carries 40,000 vehicles a day covered with debris and no word on when it could reopen, Andree said, it soon became apparent that the region would be affected by the shutdown.

Cranberry is a member of the TIM team that covers Interstate 79 and Interstate 76, the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Other members of the I-79/I-76 Local TIM include Northern Regional police, Franklin Park, Zelienople, Jackson, PennDOT Districts 10 and 11, state police and the turnpike commission.

Northern Regional police helped with traffic control because Cranberry borders Allegheny County. Traffic was backed up Wednesday and Thursday along Freeport Road in Marshall and Franklin Road in Cranberry, one of the main detours for Route 228.

Andree and police said back-ups occurred in several other areas, including Route 19 and Rowan Road, as motorists found alternate routes. PennDOT and the township set up electronic signs warning motorists of the closure and offering alternate routes.

The township posted alerts to its website and social media, posting messages on Facebook and Twitter. The township and PennDOT sent out frequent updates to local media outlets.

“This validates the importance of social media,” Andree said.

The goal of incident management is to bring together local police, road maintenance, crash investigators, transportation and other agencies to improve responder safety, crash cleanup and incident communications, according to the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission.

Beacause Cranberry already has a traffic management division, it was in a unique position to deal with the road closure, said Doug Smith, commission transportation planner.

“Frankly, I don't think there is anywhere else in the region where if a situation like this would happen that it would have been as effectively managed as they did,” Smith said.

Bill Vidonic is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5621 or bvidonic@tribweb.com.

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